1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an improved cabinet grille having a face composed of a decorative sound transmissible fabric. Such frames are widely employed as a face place or covering for sound speakers commonly used in television, radio, stereo, and other similar sound systems.
For many years, the manufacturing of speaker cabinets has required the use of two components to provide face accented detailing. The present invention discloses an improved means whereby one may apply a decorative sound transmissible fabric in a specific localized area to a decorative shaped plastic substrate for the transmission of sound through the same.
2. Description of the Related Art
In the past, the market was forced to use a product which had no face accented detailing without the use of a separate component part as an insert. A description of the patented products currently available is as follows:
U.S. Pat. No. 4,936,410 (Howell) discloses a speaker cover made of a flaccid material. The material has a band of felt, Velcro(copyright), along its outer border. A speaker is provided with a hook fastener, Velcro(copyright), along its outer border. The material is fastened to the speaker by contacting the band of felt with the hook fastener. The speaker cover is thereby attached to the speaker.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,322,979 (Cassity et al.) discloses a two-piece speaker cover assembly. The first piece is a speaker cover that can be made from cloth-like material that can be stretched over the frame body. The second piece is a molded frame body having a channel with a first rib and a second rib. The channel, first rib and second rib are located on the side of the frame body facing the speaker. In addition, the channel does not contain any serrations.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,325,455 (Kirkpatrick) discloses a two-piece speaker grille. The first piece is a cover that is made from a stiffened, resilient, fibrous cloth material that covers a grille. The second piece is the grille and it includes a groove, which does not contain any serrations.
German Patent 27 38 526 (Hennel) discloses a loudspeaker box having a front cover plate and a frame. The frame contains beading to which a cover may be fixed. U.S. Pat. No. 4,934,480 (Gate et al.) discloses a cover that can be fixed to an electrical instrument, including a loudspeaker. The cover contains two types of fastening lugs that fit into slots in the casing of the instrument.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,974,698 (Smith) discloses a frameless pierced metal speaker. German Patent 27 38 295 (Gaus) discloses a speaker frame made from a metal-plastic-metal sandwich. U.S. Pat. No. 5,113,968 (Lemmon) discloses a three-piece speaker grill assembly containing a perforated screen detachably connected to a grill with a pad between the grill and screen. U.S. Pat. No. 4,650,031 (Yamamoto) discloses a cabinet for a loudspeaker, U.S. Pat. No. 4,919,227 (Chicoine) discloses a speaker grille that has two sets of misaligned sound transmitting holes.
None of these patents discloses a unitary or one-piece acoustical cabinet grille frame having a sound-transmissible fabric integrally bonded or fused to a shaped plastic face of the grille frame.
Recently, U.S. Pat. No. 5,717,171 (Miller et al.) and U.S. Pat. No. 5,888,439 (Miller et al.) disclosed a unitary or one-piece acoustical cabinet grille frame and a method of making the one-piece grille frame. In the unitary acoustical cabinet grille frame, a sound-transmissible fabric is integrally bonded or fused to serrations in a slot within the shaped plastic face.
It is the object of the present invention to provide an improved unitary or one-piece acoustical cabinet grille frame and an improved method of making the one-piece grille frame.
The present invention is for an improved unitary or one-piece acoustical cabinet grille frame and an improved method for making the one-piece grille frame. The unitary or one-piece acoustical cabinet grille frame is comprised of a shaped plastic face, where the shaped plastic face contains at least one slot or vein line having an inner wall, a base, and an outer wall, and the inner wall contains serrations projecting from the inner wall; and a sound-transmissible fabric, where the sound-transmissible fabric is integrally fused to the serrations projecting from the inner wall in the slot or vein line in the shaped plastic face.
In one embodiment, the unitary or one-piece acoustical cabinet grille frame further comprises serrations projecting upward from the base. In other embodiments, the serrations are selected from the group consisting of notches, ridges, other protrusions designed to increase surface area and combinations thereof and the serrations have a shape selected from the group consisting of pyramidal, hemispherical, trapezoidal, other geometrical patterns and combinations thereof. In a preferred embodiment, the serrations projecting from the inner wall are pyramidal in shape.
In other embodiments, the sound-transmissible fabric has a melting point higher than that of the shaped plastic face; the sound-transmissible fabric has a melting point about 100 degrees Fahrenheit higher than that of the shaped plastic face; the sound-transmissible fabric has a melting point about 150 degrees Fahrenheit higher than that of the shaped plastic face; and the sound-transmissible fabric has a melting point about 175 degrees Fahrenheit higher than that of the shaped plastic face.
In yet other embodiments, the sound-transmissible fabric is selected from the group consisting of polyester, cotton, polyolefin, polyamide and polyacrylic fabric and the shaped plastic face is a thermoplastic selected from the group consisting of polyurethane, polypropylene, polystyrene, polyethylene, polyamide, polyacrylic, polyacetal, polycarbonate, acrylonitrile-butadiene-styrene and polyvinyl chloride.
The improved method of manufacturing a unitary or one-piece acoustical cabinet grille frame comprises the steps of placing a sound-transmissible fabric in contact with a shaped plastic face having a perimeter, where the shaped plastic face contains at least one slot or vein line having an inner wall, a base, and an outer wall, and the slot or vein line contains plastic serrations projecting from the inner wall; placing a heated fusion blade in contact with the sound-transmissible fabric, where the heated fusion blade has a configuration of the slot or vein line traversing the perimeter of the shaped plastic face; forcing the sound-transmissible fabric into contact with the plastic serrations in the slot or vein line; plasticating or melting the plastic serrations into a plasticated or melted plastic; embedding the plasticated or melted plastic into the sound-transmissible fabric, where the sound transmissible fabric is integrally bonded to the shaped plastic face; removing the heated fusion blade from the slot or vein line; and allowing the plasticated or melted plastic to cool thereby forming the grille frame.
In one embodiment of the improved method, the slot or vein line further comprises plastic serrations projecting upward from the base of the slot or vein line. In other embodiments, the serrations are selected from the group consisting of notches, ridges, other protrusions designed to increase surface area and combinations thereof and the serrations have a shape selected from the group consisting of pyramidal, hemispherical, trapezoidal, other geometrical patterns and combinations thereof. In a preferred embodiment, the serrations projecting from the inner wall are pyramidal in shape.
In other embodiments, the sound-transmissible fabric has a melting point higher than that of the shaped plastic face; the sound-transmissible fabric has a melting point about 100 degrees Fahrenheit higher than that of the shaped plastic face; the sound-transmissible fabric has a melting point about 150 degrees Fahrenheit higher than that of the shaped plastic face; and the sound-transmissible fabric has a melting point about 175 degrees Fahrenheit higher than that of the shaped plastic face.
In yet other embodiments, the material forming the sound-transmissible fabric is selected from the group consisting of polyester, cotton, polyolefin, polyamide and polyacrylic fabric and the material forming the shaped plastic face is a thermoplastic selected from the group consisting of polyurethane, polypropylene, polystyrene, polyethylene, polyamide, polyacrylic, polyacetal, polycarbonate, acrylonitrile-butadiene-styrene and polyvinyl chloride.